Points won by each set: [ 17-30, 29-22, 26-31, 30-14, 40-33 ]
Points won directly behind the serve:
22 % Nishikori – 29 of 131
24 % Murray – 35 of 141
Actually the scoreline doesn’t suggest it, but it was a match in which spectators could expect Murray to win in 3, 4 or 5 sets. He [2] was in a terrific form at the time, recently having beaten Nishikori 6-1 6-4 in the Olympic semifinal, so when he broke to lead 3:2 in the 2nd set it looked like a repetition. The Japanese [7] broke back though, and hung in there. There was 1-all (15/40) in the 4th set from his perspective; up to that moment Murray broke every time he had a break point, but in that 3rd game he failed & involvement in discussion with the chair-umpire perhaps distracted him. In the decider the Scot broke back twice to lead 5:4* – four points away from the semifinal. Nishikori conserved more energy for the crucial moments and easily took the final three games dropping just three points while obtaining 11 out of 12 thanks to Murray’s errors. Before the match Murray had an amazing 23-7 record in five-setters; that defeat initiated his four-match losing streak in five-setters, all of them when he led 2-1 in sets (at least at the moment I’m writing it now, US Open ’18).